Fantastic Four #247
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFantastic Four #247 is the story that definitively codified Doctor Doom's relationship with Latveria, reframing him not merely as a megalomaniacal villain but as a sovereign with genuine — if unsettling — bonds to his people. By having Reed Richards and the FF grudgingly restore Doom to power after the democratically-installed Zorba proved a brutal failure, John Byrne forced readers to sit with a genuinely uncomfortable moral proposition: that a dictatorship can be preferable to a botched republic, a question the story raises without fully resolving, and which scholars have since examined in the context of Cold War-era Marvel storytelling. It also introduced Kristoff Vernard, the Latverian orphan Doom takes as his ward — a character who would go on to impersonate Doom himself, destroy the Baxter Building, and serve as a recurring wild card in the FF's world for decades. As one of the pivotal issues of Byrne's celebrated 'Back to Basics' run, it stands as a high-water mark for character-driven superhero writing of the Bronze Age.
In "This Land Is Mine!", the Fantastic Four return to Latveria to aid Doctor Doom in reclaiming his throne from the tyrannical Zorba, whose reign has left the kingdom in ruins. Written and illustrated by John Byrne, with colors by Glynis Wein and letters by Jim Novak, this 1982 issue features Byrne’s dynamic art on both interior and cover, with the cover pencils and inks also by Byrne.
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The issue is the second half of a two-parter (with #246), written, pencilled, and inked entirely by John Byrne, who had taken sole creative control of the title beginning with #232 in 1981 with an explicit mandate to restore the book's Lee/Kirby energy. Editor Jim Salicrup oversaw the issue, with lettering by Jim Novak and colors by Glynis Wein. Byrne later revealed in interviews that he had specific long-term plans for Kristoff — including a story arc where Doom would need to desperately undo the Doombot programming imposed on the boy — but these threads were ultimately picked up and reshaped by subsequent writers after Byrne's abrupt departure from the title in 1986. The story directly payoffs continuity established as far back as Fantastic Four #200, where the FF had originally helped depose Doom in favor of Zorba Fortunov.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Kristoff Vernard (later also known as Kristoff von Doom), the Latverian orphan whom Doctor Doom adopts as his heir after Kristoff's mother is killed by one of Zorba's servo-guards during the issue's climax.
- The story is titled 'This Land Is Mine!' and is Part 2 of a two-part arc beginning in Fantastic Four #246; it was published with a cover date of October 1982.
- Written, pencilled, inked, and cover-drawn entirely by John Byrne, with colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Jim Novak, and edited by Jim Salicrup.
- The issue directly follows up on events from Fantastic Four #200 (1978), in which the FF helped the revolutionary Zorba Fortunov overthrow Doom — only for Zorba's rule to collapse into tyranny, prompting Doom's return.
- Zorba Fortunov dies (apparent death) in this issue, ending his role as Latveria's usurper.
- Kristoff Vernard went on to become a major figure in the Doom mythology: he is later brainwashed by Doom's robots into believing he is Doom himself (beginning in FF #278, May 1985), destroys the Baxter Building, and is eventually restored and joins the Fantastic Four as a probationary member.
- The issue exists in multiple print editions: a direct edition, a newsstand edition, a 75¢ Canadian price variant, a Mark Jewelers insert variant, and a Marvel Legends reprint.
- The story has been collected in Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four Vol. 22 (issues #241–250) and in the Fantastic Four Epic Collection: Back to the Basics (issues #232–248), and the debut of Kristoff is included in the letters page of the issue, which also features a letter of comment from Elfquest creators Wendy and Richard Pini.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Fantastic Four #137/138 (1982), Fantastic Four #3 (1984), Edderkoppen #11/1985 (1985), Edderkoppen #11/1985 (1985), Spindelmannen #11/1985 (1985), Nova #109 (1987), Fantastici Quattro #19 (1990), The Villainy of Dr. Doom #[nn] (1999), Coleccionable Los 4 Fantásticos de John Byrne #5 (2002), Fantastic Four Vol. 1 No. 247 [Marvel Legends Reprint] #[nn] (2002), Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne #2 (2004), Klassiker der Comic-Literatur #4 (2005), Fantastic Four by John Byrne Omnibus #1 (2011), Artist's Edition #[12] (2013), Marvel Héroes #59 (2015), Marvel's Mightiest Heroes #120 (2017), Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four #22 (2020), Doctor Doom: The Book of Doom Omnibus #[nn] (2022), Fantastic Four Epic Collection #13 (2025), Fantastic Four: När Galactus kallar... #[nn] (2025), Die Fantastischen Vier #13, El Asombroso Hombre Araña Presenta #212
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